'CHINESE SOUL FOOD' TRANSLATES TRADITIONAL DISHES FOR HOME COOKS

If you love Chinese food but feel intimidated by the idea of making it at home, a local cookbook author hopes to change your perspective.

Author:
Kim Holcomb

Published:
9:00 AM PST January 23, 2018

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"It's very accessible food, there's nothing super high end about it,” said Hsiao-Ching Chou. "I hope that my book takes the fear factor out of cooking Chinese food."

She wrote Chinese Soul Food, a collection of home cooking recipes – some of them, passed down in her own family for generations.

Chou developed her own love for food during childhood, as she "grew up" in the kitchen of her family’s restaurant.

"It is the quintessential immigrant story,” she said. “My parents were academics and professionals back in Taiwan and when we all immigrated, they couldn't do what they did and they started a restaurant."

Hsiao-Ching Chou immigrated to the U.S. with her family at a young age where she'd grow up to become the Seattle PI's Food Editor, befriend luminaries like Anthony Bordain and most recently, teach classes at Hot Stove Society.

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Hsiao-Ching started cooking beside her mother at her family's restaurant.

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Growing up in the kitchen inspired her lifelong love of food.

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Her cookbook "Chinese Soul Food" hopes to lessen any intimidation people feel from attempting to cook Chinese dishes.

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Hsiao-Ching's recipes are passed down from her mother, which she is now passing on to her own children.

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Hsiao-Ching said, "I just want people to know that this is everyday food, and everyday food can be amazingly delicious."

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While she never aspired to own a restaurant herself, she maintained a love for cooking and dining through college and eventually became the Food Editor at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. More recently, she began teaching cooking classes at Hot Stove Society.

But her heart has always been in home-cooking.

"Even though everybody loves to eat Chinese food, they don't necessarily know how to make it at home and they are intimidated by a lot of the foreign ingredients,” Chou said.